This invention pertains generally to the field of aircraft display system which generate visual images that present information to the crew of an aircraft.
Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated (ARINC) has published ARINC Specification 661 entitled “Cockpit Display System Interfaces to User Systems” (ARINC 661), an industry standard which defines an architecture to facilitate a creation of interactive displays. ARINC 661 standardizes the fundamental building blocks of cockpit avionics displays by providing specification that separates graphics from logic, defines a runtime architecture, and defines a communication protocol. The contents of ARINC 661 are known to those skilled in the art.
The Cockpit Display System (CDS) may display widgets to the end user, where ARINC 661 specifies a standard set of widgets to develop a cockpit display; a widget may be considered as a displayable entity that is either interactive or non-interactive. At startup, the CDS loads and displays widgets listed in Definition Files (DFs or singularly, DF). Each DF includes one or more layers, which are hierarchical listings of widgets that are loaded along with their initial properties such as, but not limited to, visibility and enablement. A DF may be associated with a User Application (UA).
ARINC 661 architecture separates graphics from logic. A UA may be connected to one or more layers and owned by an aircraft system and programmed with the logic for providing updated data via widget parameters to the CDS and reacting to user interactions with a display unit. Examples of aircraft systems that could own one or more UAs include, but are not limited to, air conditioning, auto flight, communications, electrical power, equipment and furnishings, fire protection, flight controls, fuel, hydraulic power, ice and rain protection, instruments, landing gear, lights, navigation, oxygen, pneumatic, vacuum, waste/water, central maintenance system, auxiliary power unit, propellers, main rotor, main rotor drive, tail rotor, tail rotor drive, rotors flight control, propeller/rotor systems, and powerplant systems.
In addition, ARINC 661 recommends a bi-directional runtime communication protocol for the exchange of data and events. Also, ARINC 661 specifies how each widget interacts with end-users, the CDS, and the UAs.
Moreover, ARINC 661 specifies that all widgets should be created during a definition phase to enable deterministic allocation of memory so that memory size may be reserved during the definition phase for the allocation of widgets. ARINC 661 does not provide for the creation of widgets other than the definition phase.